Controlling Education from the Top: Why Common Core Is Bad for America
Why Common Core Is Bad for America Author(s): Emmett McGroarty and Jane Robbins — Publication date: 2012-05-10 Category: Education Abstract: The American Legislative Exchange Council’s Public Sector Board of Directors must decide whether to uphold the Education Task Force’s approval of the Comprehensive Legislative Package Opposing the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The Task Force’s public-sector members approved the package on a 14-6 vote, and its private-sector members approved the package on an 8-4 vote. This legislation provides a model for legislatures to reclaim state responsibility for education decision-making –which has been gravely impaired as a result of the Common Core. Common Core suffers from a number of systemic defects. We have already seen that the claims of state involvement and voluntariness are misleading at best. This paper demonstrates that other claims are doubtful as well, and that any state evaluating the Standards should consider the following problems: (1) quality and content of the Standards; (2) legality of the federal promotion of the Standards and assessments, and the usurpation of state autonomy; (3) governance of the Standards; (4) fiscal cost to the states; and (5) student and family privacy rights.